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Authors: Leor Barack, Curt Cutler

Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006

Abstract: Inspirals of stellar-mass compact objects into $\sim 10ˆ6 M_{\odot}$ black holes are especially interesting sources of gravitational waves for LISA. We investigate whether the emitted waveforms can be used to strongly constrain the geometry of the central massive object, and in essence check that it corresponds to a Kerr black hole (BH). For a Kerr BH, all multipole moments of the spacetime have a simple, unique relation to $M$ and $S$, the BH's mass and spin; in particular, the spacetime's mass quadrupole moment is given by $Q=- Sˆ2/M$. Here we treat $Q$ as an additional parameter, independent of $M$ and $S$, and ask how well observation can constrain its difference from the Kerr value. This was already estimated by Ryan, but for simplified (circular, equatorial) orbits, and neglecting signal modulations due to the motion of the LISA satellites. Here we consider generic orbits and include these modulations. We use a family of approximate (post-Newtonian) waveforms, which represent the full parameter space of Inspiral sources, and exhibit the main qualitative features of true, general relativistic waveforms. We extend this parameter space to include (in an approximate manner) an arbitrary value of $Q$, and construct the Fisher information matrix for the extended parameter space. By inverting the Fisher matrix we estimate how accurately $Q$ could be extracted from LISA observations. For 1 year of coherent data from the inspiral of a $10 M_{\odot}$ BH into rotating BHs of masses $10ˆ{5.5} M_{\odot}$, $10ˆ6 M_{\odot}$, or $10ˆ{6.5} M_{\odot}$, we find $\Delta (Q/Mˆ3) \sim 10ˆ{-4}$, $10ˆ{-3}$, or $10ˆ{-2}$, respectively (assuming total signal-to-noise ratio of 100, typical of the brightest detectable EMRIs). These results depend only weakly on the eccentricity of the orbit or the BH's spin.

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